Sunday, August 15, 2010

TEXANS FAN FEEDBACK (JOHN LOPEZ, N.D. KALU, BRAD DAVIES)

Written By: Mann
08-15-2010



FAN FEEDBACK COVERAGE SR610

Before I get started, I would like to congratulate SR610 for good pregame and post game show.  After being away from football so long in terms of actual games, I forget how real sport's talk work.  The line up consist of Marc doing play by play, Andre Ware doing color analysis, Rich Lord handling sideline reporting.  Kalu, JLO and Brad were back on the 19th floor in addition to myself being in the "LAB" live blogging the game which is a new feature HMW will jump into.  After the game Kubiak's last decision, Steve Slaton's Fumble, and the first and second team pretty much carried the show.

WE WANT THE TRUTH KUBIAK, KUBIAK REPLIES "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH"



With 10 seconds remaining in game regulation, no timeouts, with a kicker decision to be made (Rackers v Brown) from the 50, Coach Kubiak opted to run a play.  The play was blown up, Game Over.  N.D. Kalu said he was very confused with the last sequence of events and he believes a player or multiple players probably told Kubiak not to let the game go into over time.  He goes to say they had already lost one pivotal player no need to extend the game to risk further damage.  He is also very interested in Kubiak's explanation.  John understands N.D.'s point of view, but he's not down with it.  John believes kicking was our Achilles heel and it was the perfect scenario to see one of the guys kick.  Brad simply said it was all weird and he don't believe they should even play overtime in preseason.

As strange as this may sound, I  agree with all  three of the guys however, John's take on the perfect scenario may be reaching.  I have seen Kris Brown make four consecutive 50 + yard field goals and furthermore the kicks he was missing was less than 50.  I would have liked to see one of the kickers trot out there and kick for the football in me but not at the risk of losing another player for a meaningless game.  Although it appeared to be a good situation for the kickers to be in, you must remember why we are even here, both of these guys missed pressured kicks.  Sure enough it may be pressure for Brown but I highly doubt it's pressure for Rackers.   
While I was blogging during the game I noticed something, the Texans were in a 4th and inches and the team was all huddling around Rackers like pumping him up because they thought he was about to go on the field, Kubiak opted to go for it thereby sending Rackers back and the whole team were laughing and slapping him on the head (very team friendly).  I think Rackers may get the job.

Earlier in the pregame, the guys in studio spoke with the crew in Phoenix and the common phrase was "ITS HOT OUT HERE".  Of course I think you had the one guy in studio Brad or JLO say "but it's a dry heat".  Dry heat guy is almost as funny as The Book is better than the movie guy.  Man, Hot is Hot and these guys were talking 96 degrees at night.  I don't blame Kubiak for wanting to get out of the desert and I know the guys were playing in a dome but when you have that kind of heat, you just want to leave period.

There was one play in the last series that basically told me the game was done.  Booty threw a pass to Dickerson.  Dickerson completed the pass with 19 seconds remaining.  Dickerson got up with no alertness to the time.  Initially I was upset before I remembered this is preseason however if you are a rookie trying to make the team you should be a little bit more anxious.  I really feel everyone is nervous because Kubiak in all fairness has been known to make questionable calls with that being said, we can careless about the game itself we are just left wondering if this was a real football decision or not.

                          1ST AND 2ND TEAMS PLAY
Let me set this up, Matt Schaub 157 QB, Mario Williams 2 Sacks, Troy Nolan 1 Int, Andre Touchdown you know the usual old Texans stuff.  John felt the real story of the game was how well the 1st and 2nd teams played throughout the game.  John went so far as to say when they seen the 1st team on the field, the guys back in the studio were looking at each other like "print the playoff tickets".  Kalu was also impressed as he pointed out that Sharper brought some of that old University of Miami nastiness to the team?  Brad being Brad could not let a good thing go so long before he recited a question that was asked during the pregame.  If Schaub has to be out for three games, could we depend on Dan?  Kalu felt that from what he seen of Dan, he is simply a backup QB which is not to be a knock on him, it simply means he's not spectacular and he's better than last year.  Everyone seemed to be big on Mario Williams.  

Kalu made a case for Foster to be pretty much shelved for the duration of preseason or very limited touches because he's proven.  The other guys needs to be battling for a position especially with Ben Tate going down.  Later in the show, JLO said Ben Tate was not that good to begin with (I'm assuming he means practice).  JLO's statement was interesting because Rich Lord spoke with Gary for an update on Ben Tate and Kubiak

Those are the positives, but the negatives were Holiday and Slaton (will be discussed at length later).  In layman's terms, the consensus is Holiday stinks and he will not make the team with the brain farts he's having.  On a side note outside of Holiday, Rich Lord pointed out that Molden was one of the few players that played in the 1st and 4th Quarter.



Again, I agree with the guys, our team looked pretty effin good.  Not so fast boys, lets think this through, I to am excited but I can't forget the pass.  Did the Texans really do anything out of the norm?  LOL.  The Texans always started good for the most part and that was part of the knock last year.  We start so good and we had that stretch where we couldn't do nothing in the third quarter.  In other words, when I remove the fanatic fan out of me and lay down the coolaid I have to remember that the Texans were a team of Halfs.  Either they were going to come blow your socks off in the first half or battle to come back to make the score look respectable in the second half.  Lets not kid ourselves and yes what I seen last night looked damn good but there are things that worries me such as the Red Zone.  I fully expect to see long bombs to Andre Johnson but I want to see them net 6 points in the red zone not 3.  I can't truthfully dig in on the red zone foes because Schaub and starters were not in but that has to be solved before I can honestly think we have overcome.

Kalu made a statement that I was personally shocked by because he knows the CODE.  No Biting.  Kalu with a straight and humbling voice got on the radio and said "Sharper brought some of that University of Miami nastiness".  I mean that's good and all but it ain't good when I heard Spencer Tilman say it during the game.  Furthermore that nastiness that Kalu and Spencer speaks of from University of Miami has been non relevant for the past 8 or 9 years unless Bing played on the squad where the commentator wanted to leave the booth and go down on the field and fight.  N.D. be happy Mike in DA didn't catch that, you good.

I agree with Kalu about Foster but this is football he has to gradually increase his touches.  I would like to secure him but in reality we can't.  John Lopez made the statement about Ben not being that good, I want to agree with him but I never seen him in camp so I am at the mercy of the media and the word don't seem to be a ringing endorsement.  I am very upset that our 2nd round pick is possibly gone for the year but I had my thoughts about him from the get go.  To much "look at me" syndrome was going on with Ben and maybe this will humble him and I hope he has a speedy recovery.

Holiday had one nice return but from that point it went down hill. It looked like he was taking baby steps (stutter stepping) and this is not a figure of speech.  I think Kubiak gave him ample time to make up for the brain farts but he never appeared to be going full speed.  Holiday is not a hard decision, can't catch and run like a turtle can only mean the employment rate just went up.









STEVE "THE HANDS" SLATON

Steve's situation needs higher explanations.

Albert Einstein Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Edmund Burke Those who don't know their history are destined to repeat it.



I called the fan feedback show and purposely asked John and Kalu a question.  Is Steve Hurt?  Will this be the excuse?  Do you really think it's possible for Steve to be cut if this continues?  It was a very serious question and the guys answered truthfully by saying it would be very hard to cut 1,200 yard back and risk him going to another team and coming back to form.  John went on to say Steve's role on this team does not need to be in Goal Line situations anymore, he has officially became a "third down back".  Kalu said if he continues to fumble throughout the preseason there is a possibility he could be cut.

Let me begin by saying, it's football season and I purposely excluded Brad because I don't need "devil advocate" talk when I am serious.  I just want a question answered truthfully, none of this trying to make the fans blow a gasket responses.  With that being said, JLO nailed it, Slaton is a Third Down Back.  I know we all hang on to the 2008 and we expect the magic to come back but like Edmund Burke said, if you don't know your history, you will repeat it. Remember Andre Davis?  Andre Davis filled in for Johnson and did a spectacular job, and he was the receiver we had to resign because look what he did that ONE YEAR.  Since Andre Davis received the big contract, has he done anything notable?  I like Steve a whole lot and I am also drinking the coolaid but like Einstein said, if i am expecting different results and doing the same crap them I'M CRAZY.  I don't want to pretend to be an analysis or anything I just don't want to see fumbles and he becomes a liability instead of a weapon.  It's not only fumbling the ball, it's fumbling the ball after a long drive and then goes to the bench and EAT SUNFLOWER SEEDS.

Conclusion
The Fan Feedback was nice however i wouldn't mind replacing Brad with Shaun Bijani.  Shaun may be young and learning but he will try.  I think the balance of interviews and callers were on point.  I can remember some Feedback Shows in the past where two hosts would literally talk for like an hour before realizing that's a phone over there lighting up(some things never change).  I am also liking the phone calls during the preshow however it seems like texting is the stepchild during the shows.  I believe the guys should not neglect the text boards.  I don't suppose to know but since I do have knowledge of what leading a show means, I would like to see John Lopez lead instead of Brad and that's not only the Fan Feedback but that's when Marc is out.  This is not a knock against Brad but it felt like he was leading and moderating the show when clearly I believe the pecking order is John Lopez.  Maybe JLO is one of them old playas that wants to chillax and let the fellas handle it.  Come on producers, when I am listening to the radio I should not hear you come from a break telling Marc "and you are on".

OUT


Grade 89
Grading Scale:
90-100 Excellent
80-89 Very Good
70-79 Average
60-69 Below Average
















 
 
 












Mann
HMW
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